The Forgotten One
by rubisora18117
Summary: The dark past of “The World” has returned. The target: Haseo. As the Epitaph Users fall, the only one with answers is a poet’s apprentice forgotten in time. GU fic. Contains shonen-ai.
1. Login 0: Dream of Lost Memories

**Disclaimer:** Ah, if I owned .hack, I could die happy… Sadly, I don't. I guess my little .hack collection will have to do. (And I bought two magazines just because they had .hack articles!)

**Summary:** The dark past of "The World" has returned. The target: Haseo. As the Epitaph Users fall, the only one with answers is a poet's apprentice forgotten in time.

**Random talk:** Ah, I haven't done something relating to .hack in ages in terms of fanfics! The first one I did really sucked. It was one of those fics where it was what would happen if "The World" was to come out for real and stuff from .hack happened to my friends and myself. It was cute, but I dislike those kind of stories. Not to mention it was written badly. I was killing myself when I decided to reread it once.

**Warnings: **This fic contains mild language, shonen-ai (main pairing), some OOC moments, and minor OCs. Many things I will mention might be spoilers for some of you, of which I am sorry. They are important aspects of my story and are needed.

I am also taking the time to say I have changed, added, or gotten rid of certain aspects or details to fit my needs. This includes details that I have minimum knowledge of due to web sites (example: .hack//ZERO). If my information is wrong, remember, it's a fanfic. Translation: I can technically do what I want.

* * *

The Forgotten One

Prologue: Dream of Lost Memories

Mac Anu was beautiful like always. Its eternal sunset made the water in the canals glow along with the occasional gondola. The streets were full of players; some were even riding the gondolas. It was a true welcoming sight for new players.

Yet, this wasn't the Mac Anu Haseo knew. The one he was seeing looked like to could be in Venice more so then the one he was familiar with. No sign of Steam Bikes anywhere. Not to mention the players looked like they were from a fantasy story. In fact, their outfits made Haseo look out of place.

As he walked, he noticed a few things. For one, no one was paying any attention to him, as if he wasn't there. He would be sure someone would notice him since he really stuck out like a sore thumb. Even if he did fit in, some one would point out he was the three-sweep Emperor, which would lead him to run for his life. They also carried their weapons out in the open, usually in some kind of holster on their person. Then there was the sense of déjà vu he was having despite the new look of the root town. It was as if he had walked those same streets at one point.

A few players gave off a sense of familiarity as well. Three players looked like uncorrupted versions of Aura's Azure Knights were talking to a female Edge Punisher player with pink hair and skimpy armor. The knights were laughing while the girl was yelling. The Azure Kite player seemed to be more used to the girl's reaction then the other two.

A boy in brown robes, maybe a Harvest Cleric, was walking towards another female Edge Punisher that looked like the first one only with brown hair and red armor. A Blade Brandier that looked like the uncorrupted Azure Orca was coming from the other direction, heading for the same girl. The girl started to complain about how her companions were always late.

A girl in a blue dress with white angel wings holding an ax rode on a gondola. Behind her were three Blade Brandiers wearing a red outfit with some silver armor. One in particular looked like Silver Knight. The Blade Brandiers were talking to the girl like they were giving a report on a PKer of a place called Carmina Gadelica.

A purple cat Blade Brandier in green armor came from an alley way. A boy that looked like the earlier Harvest Cleric, only in purple, followed the cat player like a puppy. He overheard the boy calling the feline "Mia" and talking about "Aroma Grass". The two proceeded to make plans to go to a dungeon to get the grass.

"What's going on?" Haseo muttered. His eyes were glued to the purple robed boy. Something about the boy felt more familiar then the Azure Knights counterparts.

"Fragments of memories," a voice said from behind. This caused the Adept Rogue to jump in surprise (not that he would admit it to anyone) and turn around. A figure in ragged robes stood right behind him. The only distinguishable feature was the long green hair hanging on either side of his face.

"Who are you?" Haseo yelled as he got his twin blades ready to strike.

"Aw… I'm hurt," the figure whined. "You still don't remember?" He sighed as he drew his swords as well. Unlike the normal way Haseo was used to, the swords were part of his outfit, attached to his wrist.

Without warning, the figure charged at Haseo. The white Adept Rogue blocked the attack, glaring at the fool who dare attack the Terror of Death. The figure lifted his head enough to reveal red eyes.

"You need to remember," he sang. "Time's ticking…"

* * *

Ryou Misaki woke with a start. Sure, he's had dreams about "The World" before, but they've been different lately. Every single one gave him a sense of déjà vu. The night before was at Hulle Granz Cathedral where a female Harvest Cleric in green and a male Lord Partizan in red were talking. Everything about his dreams just gave the 17-year-old boy the creeps.

His cell phone on the end table went off, signaling a text message. He reached for the device to see who was up at this hour besides him. A smile appeared as he read the message before calling the person up. No surprise that the other answered right away.

"Hey, Karou. It's Ryou."

* * *

TBC

**Random talk:** Hope I didn't make things too confusing. You should have seen it the first time I typed this. It was even hard for me to follow!

Now for an important announcement: this story is one of four that I have posted to see which one I should focus on. Right now, there is a poll that will be up for one month. It will determine which fic I will work on. So, if you like this fic, go vote for it! You can pick up to two fics. Every vote counts!

Don't forget to review!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	2. Login 1: The Sound of Trouble

**Random talk:** The result of the poll is at the end of the chapter for those who haven't read my profile!

**Notes on names:** For the most part, I was able to find out characters names in the real world. For the time being, I will not reveal who they are until it is the right time. So, for those who don't know, these might contain spoilers. Those who I couldn't find names, I made up. If any information is wrong, take it up with the .hack wiki.

I will be using two ways to state a person's name. When it is the narrator, it will be first then last. When it is a character introducing themselves or another person, it will be last then first. For the most part, I will refer to characters by first name.

* * *

The Forgotten One

Login 1: The Sound of Trouble

It was that dream again. The same one Karou has had every night since Haseo snapped him out of his slump. The same one that always made him want to contact Ryou to make sure he was alright. This was the fifth time he actually text the teen to ease his worry. This was the first time the teen responded right away.

The dream started out the same way. Karou was fourteen again. He was standing in a park of some kind with a purple cat in his arms. Somehow he knew that the cat was his Mia. There were others with him as well, like it was a party of some kind.

He could see four boys playing soccer out in an open area. The eldest of the four looked to be around 18. It was like he was forced to play with the others but was secretly enjoying himself. There was another boy that was slightly shorter than the other with glasses. He mostly joked with a boy that was a head shorter than him. The final boy had to have been no older than 10. Despite his age, he was able to keep up with the other three.

Several people sat on blankets watching the four boys play. The first group had two teen girls, a man and a woman. A wheelchair was parked next to the girl with long blue hair and glasses. The girl next to her had short brown hair, her hand clasped with the other. A manuscript with glasses resting on top lay forgotten next to the man who was having a conversation with the woman.

The next group he saw was four teens: three girls and one boy. The boy had a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes trapped in a hug. A girl with short blond hair laughed at the two, commenting on how cute they were together. The last girl with brown hair up in a ponytail just smiled at her friends antics.

The third group he could recognize right away as a brother and sister. The two were cheering loudly for the short teen playing soccer. He knew all this for the two looked like their characters BlackRose and Kazu. He might have only met Kazu once, but he was familiar with his older sister from seven years ago.

There was a fourth blanket, but it was too far away to really to see any specific details of the two sitting there. They were obviously not there with the others, but decided to watch on. The first thing that popped into his head was that they were related, most likely siblings.

When he turned to his left, he could see a boy no older than ten. He was dressed a little more formally in a long sleeve button shirt with a sweater vest over it and simple long pants. Bright brown-red eyes shined with interest with what was going on, yet still trying to hide behind black locks of hair. Obviously, the boy wanted to join in the party but was afraid to ask.

The girl with brown hair from the first blanket noticed him as well for she got up. The other three gave her a puzzled look which she responded by pointing to the boy. The man nodded, encouraging her to bring the boy over. The woman just huffed, obviously not too thrilled of him coming over.

Karou could only watch as a black shadow of a woman approach the boy and put her hand on his shoulder. The boy looked up at her in curiosity. The woman said something at which the boy would nod and follow her reluctantly before they disappeared. He could hear himself scream for the boy not to go. The girl also screamed for him to come back.

At that point Karou would wake up in a cold sweat. Sometimes he would scream in real life, causing his mother to run in to see if he was alright. He would proceed to tell her about the dream, which she would say was nothing to be afraid of. At first he believed her despite it being reoccurring. Only recently he started to worry more because of the boy at the end.

That boy looked like Ryou might have seven years ago.

* * *

Ryou woke up later than he normally would have. Karou was fairly shaken up from his dream. It must have been bad for him to sound so upset. By the time he was able to call Karou in the past, the other was calm enough to talk about it. It didn't help much that Ryou was freaked out by the dream as well. From the descriptions Karou gave, he knew three people in it personally. What made it worse was that Karou only met two of them not to long ago.

Somehow, Shino Nanao and Moe Kubo (AKA Taby) convinced him to go shopping with them. According to Moe, he needed a new wardrobe if he was going to start dating. If only they didn't come to visit him last week. Then they wouldn't have been invited to join his neighbors for tea. Thus their group of three grew to six.

The plan was for everyone to meet at Shimokitazawa, seeing as everyone thought it would be a good place to start. Ryou would take the train there with his neighbors, An Shoji and Mariko Misono, to make sure he actually gets there. An explained that her friend had an issue about people being late, let alone completely ditching plans.

As the young teen left his apartment, his two female neighbors were already on the other side of his door. An's hand was poised to knock, meaning they had just got there. Mariko giggled knowing her partner's expression was that of surprised. Ryou noted that Mariko was in her light framed wheelchair she used for long shopping trips.

"Looks like Kiku owes us a new bag," An said smiling at the teen.

"I could always ditch you at the train station," Ryou sighed.

"But don't you want to look nice for Karou-kun?" Mariko asked. Ryou only blushed making the two women to laugh. "We better leave now. You know how hard it is to get there for me." (1)

* * *

Despite GU being disbanded, Pi was still an employee of CC Corp. All employees were now assigned to check for any anomalies in the system. Despite all traces of AIDA (except the Chim Chim that had taken a liking to the GU members) were erased, The World was still a game and would have bugs. At least these bugs could be handled by administrators and not some kids.

Pi sighed as she thought of Yata. The former leader of GU did work for CC Corp, but only part time. It was easy to forget he was still 17 and attended high school when he started to talk about work. She remembered how adamantly he talked yesterday about his friends' soccer game he was attending today. Kuhn was happy that Yata was acting his age once in awhile. Of course, the slacker ditched work as well to join the teen.

The Serpent of Lore was still in use by CC Corp. It was now used by the debugging unit as the place was already set up for that same reason. Those who were not employees of the company had their access to the Lore revoked. Not that any of them were complaining. Enderance was the eldest of the four, and he was 21.

_"Chim~!" _AIDA Chim-Chim chimed when Pi walked into the Raven HOME. She knew something was off by the way the AI was shaking in the corner. It normally would run up to her or another Epitaph User.

"Hm? What's wrong, Chimmy?" Pi asked using the nickname Bo and Atoli came up with. Normally, it would calm the AI down. This time, it jumped into the Tribal Grappler's arms as soon as she got close enough.

Before she could try to comfort the Chim, a mail came in. Pi would have ignored it if it wasn't for the fact who was the one that sent it. Zelkova knew her work schedule and would only contact her if it was an emergency.

"Oh, god," Pi whispered after reading the mail. She ran to the Lore to check if the information was correct. "Please let Zelkova be wrong for once."

* * *

Ryou twitched when he noticed only a minute had passed since he last checked his watch. Kiku was running late due to a string of bad luck. She said that she over slept, had to get breakfast on the road which ended up taking longer than eating at home, and missed the last train before the line broke down. This was revealed in a text An got ten minutes ago. By then, Kiku was already twenty minutes late.

All morning he had to hear complaints of how Kiku disliked people being late. Now, that same woman was late herself! At least the meeting place was a café near the store. His four female companions entertained themselves by talking about random girl stuff. Moe would try to bring Ryou into the conversation once in awhile, which was met by a simple answer. Eventually she gave up to Ryou pleasure.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late!" a woman that looked to be around An's age ran up to their table. Ryou's eyes widened as he felt the beginning of _the_ headache.

"At least you're here," An sighed. She turned to face the three teens to point each one out. "Well, let me introduce you to the others. This here is Kubo Moe, Nanao Shino, and… Hey, where's Ryou?"

Kiku squeaked, turning everyone's attention back to the late girl. Behind her was Ryou, with one hand on her shoulder and the other grasping the fork he was using up to her neck. His eyes seemed to be redder than usual. The teen boy started to chuckle.

"I see you still haven't change," Ryou said making Kiku gasp. Before anyone could react, Ryou started to scream and clutch his head. He fell to the ground, kneeling with one hand supporting his upper body.

"Ryou!" An yelled as she ran over to check on her friend. "Was it one of your episodes?"

"What do… you think?" Ryou gasped. "It's not going away…"

"Wha-what happened?" Moe asked. "Ha- I mean Ryou's never done that before. Has he?"

"It's hard to explain," Mariko said as she reached for Ryou's backpack. "From my understanding, Ryou-kun lost parts of his memory seven years ago. Every so often, he would get a terrible headache followed by another persona taking over him for a few minutes or so. Ah, here we go. An-kun, catch!"

"Thanks," the brunette said as she caught the medicine bottle her partner threw. "Here, this will help."

"I'm guessing those are for the headaches," Shino observed. "I remember him mentioning them online once."

"It's all anyone can do to help," An sighed. "We think it might have to do with his missing memories. He reacts the same way to us and Sakuma-san from time to time. It's weird how he acted towards you, Kiku. Normally he's fairly polite or playful. The only time he did that to anyone was when he met Machiko-san."

"You can stop talking about me like I'm not here," Ryou said. "I'm fine now. Can we just get this over with?"

"Oh? Can't stand shopping with girls?" Kiku teased.

"Ryou was never one for shopping," Shino answered. The girls laughed while Ryou could only huff.

To Ryou's pleasure, the shopping experience wasn't too bad. The only rule they had was that Ryou had to try everything they gave him and show it off before he made his decision. For the most part, they picked out clothes that were to his liking yet fairly fashionable. Once in awhile, one of them would pull out something outrageous just to get a rise out of the boy. To their surprise, he actually said yes to a gothic Lolita dress. What they didn't realize he was going to burn it later. Unless Karou found it before he got a chance to and liked the dress. Something told the teen he would as it was An who chose it, and she tended to be right on matters of his boyfriend.

After the girls were satisfied with their friend's new wardrobe, it was decided to go watch a movie. Shino, Moe, and Kiku wanted to see a typical chick flick movie. Even though Ryou had a boyfriend, he still had standards and wanted to see the new horror slasher. It was An who suggested the remake of _Samurai Rebellion._ (2)

All was fine until they got in line for snacks. A girl with short blond hair was walking backwards, talking to her two friends when she bumped into hard enough to knock the teen to the ground.

"Oh my god!" the blonde gasped. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Ryou said as he looked up at the girl. His attention wasn't on the blonde, but a brunette woman with short hair. He just stared at her as he could feel a headache coming and body start to shake. An recognized the symptoms as well, rushing to his side.

"Is something wrong with him?" the short haired brunette asked.

"I-I'm so sorry," Ryou said as he crawled towards brunette. His eyes never left her even as tears threaten to fall. "I never meant to hurt anyone… I was only following _her_…"

"Wha- What do you mean?" the woman asked.

"You know him, Mai?" another brunette female with a ponytail asked.

"Not that I know of," Mai said.

"Please… Forgive… Me…" Ryou said before passing out.

"At least he's asleep," Mariko sighed. "That must have been a strong attack."

"Yeah," An said. "Look, it's going to be awhile. Why don't the rest of you go ahead to the movie. I'll stay with Ryou until he wakes up."

"I'll stay as well, if you don't mind," Mai added. "It is Yuki's fault for him ending up like this."

"Hey!" the blonde exclaimed. "It was you he freaked out over!"

"Which is why I'm staying. You go with Kyoko and I'll catch up."

* * *

_Ryou watched as a boy in brown robes walked down the stairs. The boy was interesting to say the least. Everyone was looking for him, especially those annoying knights. There had to be something special about him. He hoped that maybe he could be friends with the wavemaster. Something about him was like himself. _

"_First I'll get the treasure," he said, "and then I'll get them all!"_

_He watched as the wavemaster walk past the treasure and behind the Gott statue. It was strange as there was nothing there. He ran to follow the strange boy, but he was gone. Unless he used a Sprite Ocarina, he should be still there._

_He smiled. He would have to keep a close eye on him._

* * *

"Ah, he's waking up!" An exclaimed. "Are you feeling any better, Ryou?"

"Augh…" Ryou groaned. "Twice in one day?" The teen noticed he was lying down with his head on the woman's lap. The woman that was with the one he bumped into was standing by the bench he was on.

"Seems like it," An said smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry about before," Ryou said to the other woman. "Well, for whatever I did at least."

"Don't worry," she smiled. "I'm just glad you're alright. I'm Minase Mai."

"Misaki Ryou," Ryou grunted. "I'm guessing An already introduced herself."

"Of course," An said. "What do you think we would do while we wait for you to wake up? We better get going. Our movie should be starting soon."

"It is a little weird we were all going to the same movie," Mai said. Before she could say anything else, a sound interrupted. All three froze when they recognized it.

A tuning fork of A in C major.

* * *

**TBC**

(1) I don't know if it applies to all of Japan, but when I went there it wasn't very handicap friendly. Yes, there were elevators and ramps, but not everywhere. My mom had a hard time getting around so I ended up hanging out with my aunt who lives there. There was even a train station that just had stairs to get out. Like I said, it might have changed since I was there.

(2) _Samurai Rebellion_ is a real movie made in 1965. If you need a movie to watch because you're bored, it's pretty good. What can I say it's a samurai movie.

**Random talk:** Woot! I can't believe I finished this! There were so many ways this chapter could have played out… In all, I'm proud of how it turned out….

So…. Does anyone want to draw Ryou in a Gothic Lolita outfit? I know if I'm bored enough, I might….

**Poll results:** In the end, there was a tie between two fics. To honor the tie (unlike I was going to do originally), I will work on both fics. Therefore, the two fics that will be updated are….

**Mirror Image**

and

**The Forgotten One**

To Angelic Duels fans: you are very lucky that I want to get to Fubuki before the hiatus. I promise to do at least two, if not three, more chapters before focusing on the winning stories.

Thank you to all who voted! I'm sorry to those who liked the other fics in the poll. As soon as these two are finished, I will post a new chapter to signify a new poll. New fics will be added to the poll, giving more options!

**IMPORTANT:** Updates might be slow. I recently had knee surgery and have to go to physical therapy three times a week. I will get them out as soon as I can. Please don't be upset about delays.

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	3. Login 2: Childhood Games

Random Talk: Just a short one. Since I really don't feel like going through all 26 episodes of .hack/SIGN again, I am going to assume Tsukasa never addressed Moraganna by any other name but Mother. Yes, by the end, I realize he finds out Moraganna isn't his mother, but I assume he never found out her real name. Thus why I have "Mother" in the first part of the fic.

* * *

The Forgotten One

Login 2: Childhood Games

An wasn't fond of dreams after her coma. At first, they weren't too bad. She was Tsukasa once more, reliving her escape from The World. She had just woken up Aura with Mimiru and Subaru. They knew Mother was outraged by how the place shook. Out of nowhere, Sora appeared in front of them and shifted Mother's attention to the twin blader.

The dream would then shift to Net Slum, waiting for Sora to come. Their moment of peace didn't last long as what could only be one of Mother's monsters hovered above them. The white creature with the red wand was the source of many nightmares even to this date.

The dream changed about two years ago, around the time of the fire at CC Corp. Actually, the only part of the dream that changed was the white monster. She was staring at Sora wielding the red wand of the mystery monster. His expression was completely blank as if he was being controlled by someone.

The dreams changed once more this past summer. No longer was she staring at Sora but a young Ryou Misaki. Tears fell from his large, scared eyes. The strange part was that his eyes were purely brown instead of having the red tint. The first time she realized this fact, she remembered something odd: Pictures of Ryou before the age of 10 had brown eyes just like the dream. The thing is, she only saw those pictures after the dream.

* * *

A in C major.

The sound reverberated in the three young adults' minds. Each was reminded of something, but all thoughts lead to The World. From their experience, nothing good came from that sound. Just as Ryou was going to make a dash to his friends to warn them, the lights went out.

"Not again," both An and Mai whispered at the same time.

"What do you mean 'not again'?" Ryou asked.

"Haven't you heard of Pluto Again?" Mai asked in surprised.

"Yeah, but I was in a coma during that time," Ryou answered. "Not to mention I'm missing parts of my memory."

"I told you this movie was a bad idea!" Yuki yelled as both groups of girls ran back. "You just had to choose the one movie I got stuck in the movie theater seven years ago! If we get stuck again-"

"Maybe we can fix it," Shino said, interrupting Yuki's rant. "It's obvious that The World is related in some way."

"Yeah, but did anyone else remember to bring a headset?" Ryou asked. At the negative reply, Ryou smirked. "Then I'll handle this alone. Just worry about finding a way out just in case."

"What is he talking about?" Kyoko whispered to Yuki. All the blond could do is shrug.

* * *

_Pi_

_I have detected an old program from R1 at Hulle Granz Cathedral. The data is massive and could be dangerous. We might have a problem worse than AIDA. For whatever reason, do __**not**__ allow any epitaph users there, especially Haseo. If the worse happens, we might have another Pluto incident. I am going to look into this more. Please inform your superiors along with the other epitaph users._

_Zelkova_

Pi did just what Zelkova told her. She didn't know how he did it, but Zelkova pretty much knew everything that was going on just like Yatta. Sometimes things were best left unknown when you worked for CC Corp.

"This better not be a drill, Pi," Yatta said as he walked up to the Serpent. "I'm missing my friends' game."

"I just finished double checking Zelkova's information," Pi said in a worried tone. "There is a spike of data in Hulle Granz Cathedral. The coding is unlike that of R2. More like a basic version of what our epitaphs use. What could that mean?"

"No…" Yatta whispered with eyes wide. "Morganna Mode Gone is back… Pi! Make sure _no one_ goes there! I need to have a word with someone."

* * *

All was quite when Haseo logged in. There was the occasional player, but not busy like it should be at this time on a weekend. That was the first sign something was wrong. The second being the flash mail from Pi he got soon after logging on.

_There is an influx of data at Hulle Granz Cathedral. Investigate the cause of this and eliminate it if possible._

It was unlike Pi to pass off a task like this to another person, let alone to him. If anything, she would have given it to Kuhn. Shrugging it off, he had to follow orders out of his own free will for once. For all he knew the data could be the cause of what was going on in the real world. Eliminate the data and everything should go back to normal. At least, he hoped it would go that way.

* * *

"Not good," Pi said. "The area just sealed itself off."

"What just sealed off?" Kuhn asked as he ran in. "I came as soon as I got the message. Is there anything I can help with?"

"Yes, stay offline like I said in the mail!" Pi yelled. "Hulle Granz just went offline."

"Zelkova was correct," Yatta said. "Only one thing I can think of that can close off an entire area besides a systems administrator. I just pray Morganna really isn't back…"

"Wait, Morganna?" Kuhn yelled. "You mean that same program that sicked Skeith on me?"

"Yes," Pi sighed. "Now you know why you need to listen to what I said."

"But what about Haseo? I just saw him go use the gate."

"That boy…" Pi sighed once more. "I sent him the same message to stay away!"

"Unless he got a different message…" Yatta added. "Now we know why Hulle Granz was sealed."

* * *

Back in the real world, the lobby of the theater was starting to get crowed. Just like what happened to Yuki seven years ago, the doors locked themselves. Their only chance was for Ryou to figure out what was going on. That is, if he was correct.

"I really hate that game," Mai sighed. "Makes me nervous."

"Why do you say that?" Moe asked.

"Well, seven years ago I almost fell into a coma due to The World," Mai answered. "My boyfriend wasn't lucky and went into one."

"Weird," An said. "I went into a coma seven years ago thanks to the game as well."

"I too fell into a coma due to The World," Shino added. "Only, for me it was recent."

"So all of us either went into a coma or knew someone who did?" Yuki asked.

"Except Misaki," Kyoko responded.

"Not exactly," An commented. "The first time I ever met him was seven years ago. He was also in a coma, and according to his mother, he was found playing The World."

* * *

The cathedral was eerie as usual. Few people ever go there despite people knowing about it and the legend behind it. Yet, the air of the area seemed spookier.

"Finally, you return to me… Skeith…" a woman's voice came out of nowhere.

"Who's there?" Haseo turned his head to look around. He could find no trace of where the voice came from.

_"Run!"_ a voice in his head yelled.

The mysterious woman laughed.

* * *

Out in the real world, Ryou screamed and slumped over. The girls ran over yelling his name. No matter what they did, he never responded.

At the same time, the doors became unlocked.

* * *

TBC

**Random talk:** Two things I'm sorry for. One, I'm sorry for the delay. I went into a bout of depression for over a year. So, unless you wanted something like the ending of Evagelion, be happy I didn't work on this then.

Two, I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I wanted to get this out as soon as possible.

Before you start going on about how An knowing Ryou seven years ago, I can technically get away with it. There is no proof they know each other in the real world or not, at least not to my knowledge.

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	4. Login 3: Repeating History

The Forgotten One

Login 3: Repeating History

Tsuki Misaki always knew her son was special. By age 5, he was reading the works Matsuo Basho. (1) By age 7, he could speak not only his native language but English and German. At age 10, the school was offering to have him skip several grades. She couldn't be prouder of Ryou.

But it all changed. Ryou fell into a coma at age 10. Sure he was still brilliant when he woke up and was able to continue to the next grade with his classmates. Yet, something was wrong mentally. Randomly, he would get a headache and start to act differently, something that held him back from advancing more than he could.

That was another thing that changed. Before, he was shy in public and had few friends. Afterwards, he was more outspoken and at least conversed with people freely. He still didn't made many friends, and Tsuki was fine with that.

After some time, Tsuki and her husband decided to send Ryou to a Psychologist. It turned out that their son had another personality that called himself Sora. He revealed that he was Ryou's persona on the game The World and that something really did happen to him in the game. He was also the reason why Ryou couldn't remember the game. Evidently something bad happened that could break the boy if he remembered.

It was then decided that Ryou would never play The World again. They did their best keeping their son from the online game. Of course they had no control over that when he went to high school in Tokyo. They never knew Ryou played R2.

* * *

It was a calm afternoon. Tsuki was humming as she cooked a new recipe for tomorrow. From what she managed to get out of Ryou, the Karou boy sounded nice. While she couldn't speak for her husband, she was glad Ryou found someone to be happy with. Hiroshi said he was okay with it, but she could never know with him sometimes.

"Tadaima!" a male voice yelled.

"Okaeri!" Tsuki yelled back. "You're back early, Hiroshi."

"Well, since someone decided to leave early as well, I thought I would as well."

"Let me guess, you pushed that manuscript to some poor intern," Tsuki sighed.

"Maybe," Hiroshi answered. As he was heading towards the kitchen, he bumped into table. A picture resting near the edge fell. Tsuki could hear the glass shatter. She dropped everything and ran to see what made the noise. Hiroshi picked up the picture to see a 10-year-old Ryou smiling back at him.

"And I liked that one," Tsuki whined.

"We'll get a new frame," Hiroshi said as he kissed his wife's forehead. Before anymore could be said, Tsuki's cell phone rang.

"Moshi moshi," Tsuki said. "Oh, An-chan! So good to hear from you! …What's that? …Again? …Where is he?"

Hiroshi started to listen carefully. An was watching over Ryou for them. The only time she really called was when something was wrong. And the "again" part really worried him.

"Okay, if you say so. We'll be there tomorrow. Thank you."

"What happened?"

"It's Ryou… He's in the hospital. An told me which one, but visiting hours are almost over."

"I bet it's that game! I thought we made sure he wouldn't go near it!"

"Calm down. An will fill us in tomorrow."

Neither of them noticed a flashing mail icon Tsuki's cell phone.

* * *

Enderance walked around Mac Anu thinking. After getting Pi's message, his mind has been heavy with his dreams and memories. It was only seven years ago he walked similar streets with Mia. Ten years ago, he was helping Kite save The World. It seemed so long ago after this past summer with the events with Haseo.

Haseo… Last Enderance saw him in real life, he was sick. That was when he met his neighbors and Kuhn. It was just his luck that the younger male got sick the same day he decided to visit. Kuhn had the same plans as he did, thus he ended up meeting Tomonari Kasumi. His neighbors, An and Mariko, were over to help take care of him. In the end, they all shared a cup of tea talking about Ryou much to the brunette's displeasure in the next room.

It was that memory that made Enderance freeze. That was why some of the people looked familiar from the dream. Tomonari was with the three girls while An and Mariko sat with the two adults! Yet, he never met them in real life until a week ago. The dream started soon after he met Haseo.

He rushed to log out to call his boyfriend. Maybe Ryou would have more answers.

* * *

Pi continued to examine the data influx. Yatta was gone to talk to whoever that might help. Kuhn was gone for the time being as he got a phone call. That left Pi to figure out what was going on.

Ten minutes after the area was sealed off, it opened again. It was a mystery for sure. If Yatta was correct in his assumption of Haseo going there, then it couldn't mean good news for the twin blader. She truly hoped he didn't become a Lost One.

"Bad news," Kuhn said, signaling he was back. "I just got a call from Haseo's neighbor. Evidently he's in a coma. He was play The World."

"I feared as much," Pi said. "I'll tell Yatta. You go log off for your own safety."

* * *

They were running. As soon as he woke up, a stranger in black grabbed his hand and started to run. The man seemed familiar, enough that he could trust him. All the stranger said was to run. And run they did.

Some how, they were jumping from area to area without gating out. He never questioned the other how they were doing it. He could sense the urgency in the man. It was like it was a matter of life or death.

From what he could see of the areas, none of them looked familiar. In fact, he was having problems remembering a lot of things. He couldn't even remember his real name! The situation sounded familiar, but once more he couldn't remember.

Finally, the stranger stopped. The area was like nothing he's seen before. It looked like a slum of some kind, only with a steampunk feel. Strange PCs and NPCs walked around and sold stuff. The only one who looked remotely normal besides them were a boy in green with brown hair that was talking to a pink creature.

"You made it!" a boy in white Japanese clothes walked up, smiling. He turned to the confused boy. "Welcome to Net Slum! What's your name?"

"Cubia."

* * *

TBC

(1) Matsuo Basho is a Japanese poet.**  
**

**Random Talk:** Okay, before you all go off about Cubia, yes and no he is the same one from XXXX. You will see in later chapters.

Yes, I had to make Ryou supper smart. Why, I will explain later. It's a minor detail that will come up every so often.

Sorry for how short this chapter was. I didn't want to cram stuff in that I wanted to happen later on. Plus all you reviewers just make me want to post this right away!

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	5. Login 4: Reunion

**Random Talk:** So, a few people asked why is Haseo is with Enderance. There are several reasons. I like Enderance, so I wanted to give a little more of a role. Another reason is because I just happen to like the pairing compared to others. Plus I dislike Atoli.

There will be one more Shonen-ai pairing, but it's only mentioned. I somehow got into that pairing on my own by rereading the manga.

Since doesn't like the at symbol last I checked, I'll be using HOME. Just imagine there's an at symbol in front of it.

* * *

The Forgotten One

Login 4: Reunion

Tomonari Kasumi could never forget her. She was his first love. But things went downhill after waking up from his coma. In the end, she left him saying he was immature. So, he made it his goal to collect female member addresses in hopes to fill his empty heart. No one could replace Mai Minase.

An Shoji, on the other hand, was lucky. After boarding school, she got back together with Mariko Misono. She even sees other people that she played with seven years ago once in awhile. She was good friends with Kiku. Machiko and Shinichiro hanged out with Ryo Sakuma every so often. She even saw Isshin once in awhile when he checked on Mariko out of habit. Yet there was someone missing. She never got the chance to thank Sora.

It's funny how fate works sometimes.

* * *

Silabus saw Zelcova walk over to two strange players. One wore all black except for a tan cloak with a matching head scarf. He had short green hair in the back and longer in the front. The other was also wearing black but had a white scarf. His black hair and red eyes reminded him of a littler version of Haseo in the real world.

His focus switched back to his conversation with Gaspard. Evidently, Haseo, or rather Ryou, fell into a coma the other day. Silabus received a call from his neighbor explaining the situation. She never did go into how he got into that condition, but he had a feeling The World was involved. With all those rumors going on about players falling into a coma due to the game, something had to be true. He remembered something similar seven years ago happening. Yet, he didn't voice his concerns so he wouldn't scare the younger player.

"Hello guys!" Zelcova said as he walked up to the two, the smaller stranger following him. Silibus looked around to see the other, but couldn't spot him.

"Hi Zelcova!" Gaspard said.

"Where's the other guy?" Silabus asked.

"What other guy?" Gaspard questioned.

"He had something to do," Zelcova said. "But I need a favor. Do you think Cubia here can stay in Canard for awhile? Just until he is used to things."

"Sure, I see why not," Silabus said. "But Haseo isn't around…"

"You can still invite him, right?" Zelcova asked.

"Yup!" Gaspard chirped. "Welcome to Canard, Cubia!"

"Thank you," Cubia said with a shy smile.

"Anything to help," Gaspard said.

"By the way, I'm Silabus and this is Gaspard!" Silabus said.

"Nice to meet you two."

* * *

Beep… Beep… Beep…

The room was quite except for the machines. It was starting to drive An crazy. It's only been a day since Ryou fell into his coma. The whole situation reminded her of seven years ago. She wondered if the machines drove anyone else crazy.

"We forgot to call Nakanishi-san," Mariko said. "Wasn't Ryou-kun supposed to watch Iori-kun this coming weekend?"

"I called her when you went to the cafeteria," An responded. "Iori found out and wants to visit. Maybe they'll stop by later today."

"Wow, we might fill up the room," Mariko stated. "Ryou-kun's parents are going to be here after they have their meeting. Sakuma-san said he was on his way. Same goes for Ichinose-kun."

"Yeah…"

Beep… Beep… Beep…

"Excuse me," a woman with black hair walked in to the room. "Is this Misaki Ryou's room?"

"Yes, and you are?" Mariko asked.

"I'm Saeki Reiko," the woman responded. "I'm an online friend of Misaki. I came with Kasumi Tomonari, but something came up."

"Like what?" An asked.

"Ex girlfriend."

* * *

Tomonari hated hospitals. It reminded him of seven years ago. It reminded him of _her_.

Shortly after waking up from his coma, his girlfriend, Mai Minase, broke up with him. Her reason was that he wouldn't grow up. He thought it was because he continued playing The World even after everything that happened. That she was worried that he would end up the same way. That's why he was obsessed with girls in The World now. He tried desperately to fill the hole Mai left. Yet nothing he did could fill that void.

To this date, only one person knew the truth, and that was Ryou. He didn't know what brought it up, but he confessed to the teen online about his girl problems. Even with how he acts, Ryou didn't judge him after that. He just nodded and changed the subject. Maybe it was an awkward subject or he just didn't care. Whatever the reason, Tomonari was glad nothing changed.

His mind switched to a different subject, Karou. He knew that the other was a hikikomori (1) and it took a lot to get him out of the house. From Ryou's shocked expression the first time he met the blond, the teen didn't expect his boyfriend to come over. Who knew that the two of them would get together let alone last this long with an online relationship?

"I know Yuki," a familiar voice said to his left, "but I just feel bad if I don't check up on him."

"Mai?" Tomonari turned to the direction of the voice.

"Tomonari?"

"You know her, Kasumi?" Reiko asked.

"You could say that," Tomonari said, his voice trailing.

"So, she's like your ex-girlfriend or something," Reiko added. When silence was met, she was immediately shocked. "I was just joking!"

"Well, we did," Mai said softly. "How have you been?"

"Good," Tomonari replied. "Oh, this is my co-worker, Saeki Reiko."

"I'm Minase Mai," Mai said bowing. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Reiko said, also bowing. "Look, I'll let you two catch up. I'll go check on Misaki."

As Reiko walked away, she could hear Mai exclaim, "You're here to see Misaki-kun too?"

* * *

Cubia was bored. His new friends had to leave for the real world. He told them that he was going to stay on for a little longer. Gaspard was nice enough to give him access to Canard's HOME. What he didn't know at the time was that he couldn't log out. After exploring for awhile, he decided to leave the game. Yet, he was stuck.

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember the real world or who he even was. He knew life existed outside of The World, but it was like he only existed in the game. It was strange, the more he thought about his situation, the more it sounded familiar. Like someone else was trapped in a game before him. The only person who might have clues wasn't there.

"I wish that guy would come back," Cubia sighed.

"How long are you going to be here, OINK!" Death Grunty exclaimed.

"Long as I have to, pig!" Cubia retorted. He sighed and muttered to himself, "Hopefully it won't be too long…"

* * *

"So, you know him from that game," Mai said, her mouth hovering over her cup of coffee. Instead of seeing Ryou, they decided to catch up over coffee since the teen wasn't going anywhere soon.

"Yeah…" Tomonari said. "How did you meet him?"

"I was there when he went into his coma," she said somberly. She went on to describe what happened. From the strange apology to his coma caused by the game.

"So, he apologized to you," Tomonari stated. "Weird. When I first met him in real life, he made a similar apology to me just as you described."

"Maybe it's connected," Mai said. "From the way his friends were acting, it happens often enough that they're used to it."

"I got that impression, too," Tomonari said. "An was there when it happened and explained that he has some sort of multiple personality thing going on. Only, it hurts when him when the other personality comes out."

"That must mean that the personality knows the both of us!" Mai exclaimed softly. "The question is, how?"

* * *

He was floating. He couldn't remember his past, just the present. He couldn't move or even see for that matter. All he could do was listen. Listen to her talk.

"That boy messed up everything for me again," she said. "I knew using him was a mistake. Now all I have is an empty shell. But this body might be of some use. It will be just like old times."

* * *

TBC

**Random Talk:** Hey everyone! Sorry for such a long delay. I was hit by a storm of writer's block. Then stuff happened in real life, so now I have to help take care of my great-aunt. That in itself is a full time job since she's 93 and literally retarded. Hey, it's the best way to describe her condition. I was able to get a vacation from all the crazy stuff, but I got sick on it. So, here we are! Finally!

Oh boy…. I'm taking a lot of freedom with the .hack plot… I'm just doing what my imagination comes up with. It's a little longer than last time, but I didn't want to cram stuff in.

It might be a few months before the next chapter comes out. I need to finish my costume for a convention in May. Plus I have one other fic I'm working on right now plus hashing out the details for another idea I have that just won't leave me alone!

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	6. Login 5: Of Grass and Roses

**Random talk:** Okay, so I actually did test this in the game, and it is possible to bring Elk to the two events in the first part. It felt weird not having my normal party for them, but I wanted to see if it was possible for this fic. Like it would matter….

Sorry for the history lesson in the first part. It is not just to make the chapter longer, but it's how I pictured it in my head.

Also, I just realized I totally misspelled Zelkova's name last chapter. I feel so bad….

* * *

The Forgotten One

Chapter 5: Of Grass and Roses

Seven years ago, the player called Elk was part of the group later called the .hackers. He remembered those days well since Mia was there. There were times when Kite would only call him because they needed a Wavemaster. The only other one Kite had at first was a female player called Mistral. He later got a male Wavemaster named Wiseman that he would take when Mistral was gone for a long period of time.

Two times he was invited really stick out in his mind lately. The first one was when they went up against Skeith. He was terrified of the monster with its red glowing wand forever engraved his mind. The second time was after Mia started acting weird. He was really down, so Kite probably took him along to cheer him up. Once more he saw the red wand in the dungeon they went to. As they approached it, the wand glowed and disappeared, leaving a Twin Blade player where it was. The mysterious player only said "thank you" before disappearing as well. In his place was Twin Blade item which Kite said was called "Sora's Blades". He assumed that was the player's name. To say the least, it intrigued him.

Years passed and Elk became Enderance. He then met the player Haseo who wielded the power of the monster years ago. Yet when he saw Skeith with a clear mind, he didn't remember the battle but of the player Sora. Even when he went against him in the arena when AIDA clouded his mind, it didn't feel like the monster, only Sora.

Maybe like he was connected to his Epitaph on a deeper level, Haseo was as well.

* * *

Kaoru was nervous. This was the second time to leave his house for a long period of time. Yes he has gone out under request of Ryou just to get used to the outside. But for a hikikomori, it was a big step just to go to Tokyo from Kanagawa. Luckily, his mother went with him to keep him calm like last time.

The first time was because Ryou was sick. He called up to talk, like he was lately, when his neighbor answered. Turns out he was really sick and could barely get up. She then suggested that he come over. Now, Kaoru had Ryou's address for when he was more comfortable with the outside. But he was really worried about his "boyfriend", so he asked his mom to help him get him there. His mother was more than happy to take him.

It was strange that the second time he was to see Ryou was when Ryou wasn't well, if you can call being in a coma that. The next time he was supposed to see him was for an informal date in Kanagawa so the hikikomori wouldn't panic as much. Fate had a different plan it seems.

"Come on, honey," Kaoru's mother said. "This is our stop."

"Yes mother," Kaoru said as he gripped the flowers he bought for Ryou even tighter. The weight of his backpack seemed even heavier.

* * *

Tomonari and Mai walked in to Reiko talking to An and Mariko about what was going on. Evidently it was a two sided conversation by Reiko's expression.

"Tomonari! Mai!" An said as she saw the two. "Reiko was just telling us what happened."

"They forced it out of me," Reiko added. "They know about how The World is connected to the comas."

"How?" Tomonari asked shocked, his expression mirrored by Mai. "Most people don't believe it!"

"An and I played R:1," Mariko responded. "Actually, it was because of An being in her coma that we met."

"Wait, you were in a coma too because of that game?" Tomonari yelled.

"Too?" An and Mariko asked, their turn to be shocked.

"Yeah! I was there with the .hackers!" Tomonari said.

"I only know of a few of the coma players character names," Reiko muttered.

"If you're curious, my character was Tsukasa," An said with a smile.

"You were one of the first ones that went into a coma!" Reiko exclaimed.

"Aw…. So you weren't there for the final battle," Tomonari whined.

"Tomonari!" Reiko yelled.

"Is this a bad time?" a smooth voice came from the doorway.

* * *

"Hey, Cubia!" said player heard from behind. Cubia turned around to see a smiling Zelkova walk up.

"Hello, Zelkova-san," Cubia said cheerfully. "I was just taking a walk around town since Silabus and Gaspard aren't here yet."

"Please, call me nii-san!" Zelkova chirped. "I always wanted a little brother!"

"Um… Okay Zelkova-nii," Cubia said with a blush.

"Anyways, I was hoping we could do an area!" Zelkova cheered. "But you have to wear this equipment if we go."

"Anything to do something!" Cubia exclaimed.

"Hm… Looks like the person I wanted to invite isn't here," Zelkova said. "Ah! But Sakubo is on! I wonder who it is today! : )" This confused Cubia greatly. He thought about it, and before he could ask, a petite, strawberry blond girl walked up. (1)

"Hi Zelkova," the girl said sadly. "I only have a short time if that's okay. I was going to visit nii-san as soon as my mom gets back."

"That's right," Zelkova said melancholy for once. "Haseo is in trouble. Hey, maybe a quick area will cheer you up, Bo!"

"Um, okay," Bo said. "If you don't mind me asking, who is this?"

"Oh, I'm Cubia," Cubia said shyly.

"What a strange choice of name," Bo said, slightly worried.

"Don't worry! He has nothing to do with that thing! : )" Zelkova reassured. "Now let's go!"

* * *

"Ah! Kaoru!" An exclaimed. "You're here!"

"I'll be in the cafeteria," Kaoru's mother said. "Have one of your friends get me when you're ready to go."

"Alright mother," Kaoru said. With that said, his mother left, but it wasn't silent for long.

"Hey man, good to see you again!" Tomonari said. "Wish it was under better terms. Man, last time I saw you, Ryou was sick. I thought you were a shut-in and didn't like making trips outside if you had to."

"I… Wanted to see Ryou," Kaoru said slowly. "He's been getting me to come out every so often… I must thank you An for telling me last night."

"I thought you had the right to know," An said. "Besides you were already calling Ryou so I had to answer."

"I see you got him flowers," Mariko said with a smile.

"Why am I not surprised it is roses?" Tomonari said, with a smile.

"Um, how about we go to the waiting room and continue our discussion from before?" An said, noticing Kaoru's discomfort. "I'm sure Kaoru wants some time with Ryou."

"That's a great idea!" Tomonari said as he pulled Reiko and Mai out of the room. An wheeled Mariko out as well, giving Kaoru a wink.

Kaoru closed the door after Ryou's neighbors left. There were a few flowers already spread throughout the room. Luckily, there was one spot right next to the bed that one would easily see them right away. He knew it didn't matter much right now, but at least his white roses would be easy to spot. He then took a seat next to the bed and took out his laptop that he asked for after his last visit. If he were to visit Ryou often, in the distant future more like, he would at least like some kind of lifeline to the net. Besides, Ryou had asked if he had one so he could at least try to play outside, if he had Wi-Fi of course, as a small step to get him out more.

"Don't worry, Ryou," Kaoru said to the sleeping teen as he grabbed his hand. "I'll figure out what's going on."

He first checked his email to see if anything was sent from Yatta or Pi about any suspicious areas. Yes, he was asked to stay offline as much as he could, but he had to help. There was one from Pi about some abnormal data in Indieglut Lugh that might give some help to finding some clues. A soft smile graced the net-addict's face. It was worth a shot.

Enderance logged in and went straight to the Lost Ground. The area was beautiful as ever, but he couldn't take the time to relax. He had to find the abnormal data as it might be the key to helping Ryou.

"Just the one I was looking for," a woman's voice echoed.

* * *

Iori Nakanishi walked with his mother through the hospital halls carrying a vase of daisies he picked from his neighbor's garden. It might be small, but it was the thought that counts. As they passed the waiting room, he heard a familiar voice call out.

"Iori!" An said loudly.

"Ah! An-nee," Iori said with a smile. "It's good to see you again."

"It is," Mariko added.

"Mariko-nee! I didn't see you there," Iori added. "I'm sorry,"

"Don't be," Mariko said smiling. "Ryou's room is the last door on the left."

"Thank you!" Iori said as he took off down the hall.

"Don't run Iori!" his mother yelled.

"How does Ryou know him?" Reiko asked.

"He plays The World," An replied. "Boy, he's really attached to Ryou. Even calls him 'nii-san'."

Reiko and Tomonari faced each other, both realizing the same thing. "Sakubo."

Meanwhile, Iori had reached the door. He could hear the sounds of machines on the other side. Iori took a deep breath and open the door. As expected, Ryou was hooked up to several machines. What was unexpected was the blond man in the chair slumped over the bed.

"Sir, are you okay?" Iori asked as he shook the stranger. The body moved from the shaking to reveal he was wearing an FMD. A laptop was on the ground, with static across the screen. Iori did the one thing he could do.

He screamed for help.

* * *

It felt weird, he realized. Last he remembered he was in Mac Anu the next he was in a grassy area. Last he checked, there was no grass in the root town. He opened his eyes to find himself in an open, circular area surrounded by trees. In the middle was what looked to be a glass coffin, something that would be in Snow White or some fairy tale. He got up to take a closer look. Inside the coffin was a male teen in white outfit and had white hair suspended in mid air. It looked as if the teen was asleep.

"Wow, he looks strong. But why is he in there?"

"Because he cannot wake up," a woman's voice echoed. "But you have the means to wake him, Elk."

"Who… Who are you?" the person now named Elk weakly commanded. "And how do you know my name!"

"You can call me Mother."

* * *

TBC

(1) Yes, I know Bo is a guy. But the .hack wiki says that the avatar base is female.

**Random Talk:** Okay, I totally just crunched out this chapter in a matter of hours….. What can I say, I was in a .hack mood coupled with insomnia! I actually had to listen to the Terminal Disk again to get my facts straight. I won't be surprised if I have to watch it again.

I just noticed I had Cubia change personalities for one part of the last chapter. But I guess no matter what, people are going to hate Death Grunty's attitude. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	7. Login 6: Hide and Seek

**Random Talk:** Hm… Not a lot of people have been guessing at stuff I leave hints to…. I thought they were good hints to make you wonder what was going on. Oh well. Besides, I wouldn't tell you if you were right or not anyways! I just like to know what you guys are thinking.

I'm sorry for all the dialogue, but it's the way I play out this fic in my head. I'm trying to change that, but it's hard.

* * *

The Forgotten One

Login 6: Hide and Seek

When Reiko Saeki found her brother's video diary of GU, she knew what to do. She became a part of CC Corp and made her way into Project GU. She did so by showing her control over Tarvos. There she met Takumi Hino and Tomonari Kasumi, two other Epitaph Users. Together, they spent hours figuring out what triggered the Morganna Factor to allow a player to use an Epitaph. Reiko told them of her brother's diary and came up with a hypothesis. They thought that the stronger the connection to R:1 and the Second Network Crisis, the higher the chance the player could activate an Epitaph.

This hypothesis was true with Takumi and Tomonari, but no with Reiko and possibly the player Ovan. Then they had more proof when the Epitaph Macha suddenly disappeared from the CC Corp database. It was later found in the player Enderance, in which Takumi found out to be player of Elk, a .hacker like he was. That was the last proof they had since two others, Innis and Gorre, didn't follow the pattern and went to what seemed like a random player. It took awhile, but Skeith also broke the pattern by going to a random player as well. This was a disappointment to Reiko because she wanted to prove her brother right in that it would have gone to the player of Sora. Yet there was nothing in the CC Corp database that could link the two players together. So, it proved to be random with who got an Epitaph.

Then something strange happened. Shino, the Epitaph User of Innis, was PKed and sent into a coma. At that moment, Innis "jumped ship", if you will, into another player. This was strange, but not as strange as what happened to Haseo, the Epitaph User of Skeith. Somehow, Skeith was sealed without a fight. This confused Reiko greatly and made her wonder how strong of a bond could an Epitaph have with a player if one left at the sign of trouble yet another one stayed.

* * *

The five young adults sat in the waiting room. An, Mariko, and Reiko listened to Mai and Tomonari about their story of. Reiko was clearly confused as to why it was relevant to Ryou's condition. An and Mariko were shocked, but yet you could tell that they believed every word they said.

"So you see, Ryou had the same reaction to both me and Mai," Tomonari said. "At first I thought it was the fever, but for it to happen to Mai, something is connected."

"I didn't think I would have to tell you this, but Ryou has a condition," An said reluctantly. "It's called Dissociative Identity Disorder, better known as Multiple Personalities. I don't know what caused it, but Ryou is a strange case. It's like his other personality has to fight for control, which gives him headaches afterwards. Maybe it's of his past self from before the coma and amnesia."

"But we never met him before," Mai said, "yet he was sorry about something that happened to the both of us."

"He also acted strange with one of our friends he never met before, too," Mariko said.

"Would you happen to have met this friend in R:1?" Reiko asked.

"Well, yes," An answered.

"Then that has to be the connection," Reiko said. "Ryou had to have played R:1."

"Wait, he did!" An exclaimed. "I remember his parents talk about the game. Well, it was more of an argument. His father was blaming his mother for getting him hooked onto The World, thus causing his coma. When he woke up, he had no memory of ever playing the game."

"How interesting," Reiko murmured.

"Ah, I think I see Iori!" An said. "Iori!"

"Ah! An-nee," Iori said with a smile. "It's good to see you again."

"It is," Mariko added.

"Mariko-nee! I didn't see you there," Iori added. "I'm sorry,"

"Don't be," Mariko said smiling. "Ryou's room is the last door on the left."

"Thank you!" Iori said as he took off down the hall.

"Don't run Iori!" his mother yelled.

"How does Ryou know him?" Reiko asked.

"He plays The World," An replied. "Boy, he's really attached to Ryou. Even calls him 'nii-san'."

Reiko and Tomonari faced each other, both realizing the same thing. "Sakubo."

"Wait, I think I figure out our connection to Misaki-kun!" Mai exclaimed standing up. Before she could say any more, a scream came from the hallway.

"That sounded like Iori-kun!" Mariko exclaimed. Alarmed that something might have happened to either him, Kaoru, Ryou, or a combination of the three, the young adults made a mad dash to Ryou's room. They could see doctors and nurses running in and out of the room in a panic. When they reached it, what they saw did not bode well.

Ryou was fine, no changes to his condition. That was the only good thing they saw. Iori was against the wall in his mother's arms, crying. The vase he was carrying was shattered on the ground. Doctors were swarming around the unconscious Kaoru, barking orders to the nurses. A few noticed the discarded HMD near net-addict. Tomonari cursed as soon as he saw it.

"I thought you told everyone to be careful, Reiko!" he yelled.

"What are you talking about?" Reiko asked as Tomonari pulled her aside.

"The other Epitaph Users! Kaoru was Enderance!" Tomonari revealed. This made Reiko curse as well.

"He must have wanted to figure out what happened to Ryou," Reiko sighed. "You know how strong his feelings are for him in the game. But I thought he was a hikikomori."

"He is," Tomonari explained. "Like you said, his feelings for Ryou are strong. He came out here just for him. Did it before, remember?" He watched as everyone was escorted out of the room while they brought a bed so they could thoroughly examine the latest Lost One.

"I'm going to go tell Ichinose-san what happened," An said. "Mariko, could you stay here and try to help calm down Iori?"

"Of course."

* * *

He found this new World amazing with all the differences. He was currently at a large building surrounded by lava. He never took the time to take in the sites before, but now he had some time with all the running he did. The little one was safe, and that is what matters.

"Found you!" a young voice yelled as a body tackled him from behind. "You're it! : )"

"Hm? I didn't know we were playing a game," he drawled.

"Yup!" the younger voice chirped. "We're playing Hide and Seek! It took me awhile to find you."

"Oooo, one of my favorites!" he said as he released his sword, showing it to the other.

"Of course, how could I forget that?" the other asked.

"Too bad I don't have the time," he sighed. "She's catching up."

"I know," the other suddenly went serious. "Another one has fallen. Be careful. I don't want to lose you again. You're so hard to find!"

* * *

When Tsuki and Hiroshi Misaki made it to the hospital, they didn't expect the other bed in their son's room. Just like their son, the beautiful young adult was hooked up to numerous machines. A woman a few years older than they were, was sitting by the stranger's bedside, crying. There was no sign of An or Mariko.

"Oh, you must be Misaki-kun's parents," the woman said. "I'm Hanako Ichinose, Kaoru's mother."

"Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you," Tsuki said. "Ryou tells us a lot about Kaoru-kun. I'm Tsuki Misaki and this is my husband, Hiroshi."

"Nice to meet you to," Hanako said. "I hope you don't mind them sharing a room. I know Kaoru would want it that way, and I'm sure Ryou wouldn't mind."

"Not at all," Tsuki said smiling sadly. "What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Kaoru went onto The World," Hanako said softly. "I heard him talking last night about how the game might help wake up Ryou. I don't see how."

"Right, it's just a game," Hiroshi said. "I still don't get how the game can cause comas anyways. Not now, not seven years ago."

"You went through this before?" Hanako asked shocked. "Now that I think about it, Kaoru went unconscious for a short time seven years ago playing the game. I thought it was exhaustion."

"I guess there are things that will never be explained," Tsuki said. "Do you know if our son had any other visitors?"

"Oh, yes," Hanako responded. "Four women and a man were here before I got here with my son. I believe they were going to go to the cafeteria."

"So An and Mariko were here," Tsuki said. "I'll be right back, I just want to thank them for their support."

* * *

Elk was lonely. Mother requested that he wouldn't go to the root towns and to hide from other players. She didn't want him to attract any attention, something about him being out of place. So, Mother gave him the ability to warp to other areas without needing to go to town. Mother only had one request, find the one that would wake up the teen. She didn't give much help though, only saying that he would know who when the time came. It was time like this that he missed Mia.

It was weird. For some odd reason, he couldn't remember why Mia wasn't around anymore. Just that she was there one day, and gone the next. In fact, his memories were a little scrambled. He remembered Kite and the others, yet he couldn't remember why they played together. But he couldn't dwell on that now. Something in him told him that he had to help the teen.

"Silabus, Gaspard! Wait up!" Elk heard a boy say. He looked towards where the voice came from. A boy in dark purple with black hair and a white scarf was running towards a guy in green and a pink creature. The boy stopped and turned his head towards Elk, as if he sensed him. This made Elk panic and warped to another area.

"Hey, what's wrong, Cubia?"Gaspard asked as he and Silabus walked up to the Twin Blade.

"I felt something off," Cubia said. "There was a player over there. When he saw I was looking at him, he warped."

"That's weird," Silabus said. "There's a platform not too far from here. Why use a Return Feather?"

"No, he warped to another area," Cubia said as he closed his eyes in concentration.

"How do you know that?" Gaspard asked.

"I just do."

* * *

TBC

**Random talk:** To tell the truth, I had no clue what to do for the first part. So I just did some random thing that was more like me rambling. Sorry if it didn't make much sense. The title was a little random too, so I snuck that one part with the two "mystery" people. That whole scene will be explained later, so don't freak with what I'm doing. It will all make sense.

Cubia's design is based off XXXX, but the color scheme is based off him in LINK.

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	8. Login 7: Siblings

**Random talk:** I just realized my timeline of what happens when seems a little screwy… Then again, it's just with alternating between The World and the real world, especially with the last chapter. I like how I broke it up, but I don't like how Bo somehow managed to go from home to the hospital. I don't know what to do…

* * *

The Forgotten One

Login 7: Siblings

Iori Nakanishi always knew he was different. He had few friends because kids thought he was crazy. His parents didn't know how to react to him because of his condition. Everything was because of Sakura. He didn't blame her at all since she was always there for him. Besides, he was used to it. Maybe that's why he started to play The World. At least there, no one would know that Saku and Bo shared not only a character, but a body as well. Everyone thought they were just siblings.

Just like in real life, they were complete opposites. Saku was out spoken while Bo was content staying in the background. Saku made friends easily while Bo just kept to himself. They both had people to look up to: Saku with Enderance and Bo with Haseo. Bo would get into trouble and Saku would save them.

So when Haseo found out about his secret, Iori panicked. It didn't help that Sakura was depressed because of the fact she really didn't exist. He was so used her presence that he was scared what it would be like with her gone. But Haseo didn't judge them and even prevented Sakura from leaving him. They never questioned.

Then one day, it was just Haseo and Bo in a low leveled area gathering items to restock Acorn when a PKer came out of nowhere. He must have been new to the game as he didn't recognize Haseo. That was when things got weird. Haseo gripped his head and gave a soft scream in pain. The PKer watched in confusion, but snapped out of it quickly and charged at the Adept Rouge. Bo was about to cast a spell when he saw a strange smirk on Haseo's face. Before either the PKer or Bo realized it, Haseo was holding the PKer from behind with one of his twin blades to his neck.

"Too slow~" Haseo sang in a childish voice and then slashed the would-be PKer's neck. As soon as the battle field disappeared, Haseo clutched his head in pain again for a few seconds. He then looked around confused and asked Bo what had happened to the PKer. That was when Iori realized Haseo was different like him.

* * *

It didn't take long for Tsuki to find An and Mariko in the cafeteria seeing as it was actually empty except for them. They were sitting in a corner table with four other adults trying to console a child that was in tears. Just as she was heading towards the group, the child's attitude changed. He started yelling and fuming about how dare someone make her brother cry. Mariko, An, and one of the adults looked shocked by the change of attitude.

"Sakura, calm down," a woman scolded.

"Why should I?" the child yelled. "Iori's scared now! I knew we shouldn't have gone here!"

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Tsuki said. "I was just hoping to have a word with An and Mariko."

"Misaki-san!" An said, just noticing the woman. "Sorry we weren't in the room. Ichinose-san said she would watch them both."

"It's okay," Tsuki said with a smile. "But who are all these people here? Surely they couldn't all be here for Ryou. Last I checked, my son didn't have many friends."

"Actually, we are ma'am," the sole male adult said. "I'm Kasumi Tomonari. I know your son from a video game."

"Let me guess, The World?" Tsuki sighed.

"Correct, we know him from there," a woman said next to him. "I'm Saeki Reiko."

"And I'm guessing you too?" Tsuki asked the woman on the other side of Tomonari.

"No. Actually, I was there when your son fell into his coma," she said. "I'm Minase Mai. I just wanted to see how he was doing"

"I'm Nakanishi Yumi," the last woman said. "And this is my child, Sakura."

"Mommy?" Sakura asked, his behavior changing again. "My present for nii-san broke…"

"Oh, Iori, don't worry about it," his mother said, hugging him, "we'll get a new vase." It then dawned on Tsuki what was going on with the child.

"Excuse me, but would your son happen to have Multiple Personalities?" Tsuki asked.

"That's right, your son is the same way as mine," Yumi stated. "You see, our kids met on the game as well. Evidently they were close before Iori found out about Ryou-kun's condition. I figured he could help watch Iori once in awhile since they understood each other." Tsuki didn't know what to say. Not about Iori's condition, but how his mother would trust a complete stranger with her son.

"Oh man, look at the time!" Tomonari shouted. "I'm going to be late for work!"

"You have work today and you came?" Reiko asked.

"You're surprised?" Mai asked in turn. "I thought you knew him."

"Ow, that hurt!" Tomonari joked. He then became serious and turned to Mai. "But, um, it was good seeing you again, Mai. Maybe we could meet up again under better circumstances."

"Yes, I think I would like that," Mai said with a blush.

"Great! Look, I really have to go, but get my number from Reiko," Tomonari said smiling. "We work together at my other job. See you guys later!" They said their goodbyes to Tomonari and he left. Reiko promptly gave Mai her old boyfriend's number before she got up as well.

"I better get going, too." Reiko said. "I have some data to analyze. It was nice meeting you all."

"I'll walk with you," Mai said. "I have to practice for an upcoming performance."

The two women left after saying their goodbyes. Along the way out, they compared their experiences with Tomonari. Reiko would snort at Mai's tales while Mai started to feel guilty as she listened to Reiko. Since they were so absorbed in their conversation, Mai didn't even noticed the person heading her way and bumped into them.

"I'm so sorry!" Mai said to look at the female teen she had bumped into. She was carrying a vase with flowers in it, which managed not to spill any water.

"Mai?" a male voice came from next to the teen. Mai looked over to the girl's companion and was shocked to see a familiar person wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

"Tokuoka-san?"

* * *

Kaede watched on as Zelkova and his new friend, Cubia, run around kicking Chim-Chims. She was glad that the ex-guild leader had made a new friend. Something about this new one reminded her of Zelkova besides their child-like behavior. Whatever it was, it didn't matter to her. Master Zelkova was happy and enjoying the Twin Blade's company.

"Kaede-san!" Cubia said smiling. "Come join us!"

"I'm fine," Kaede said smiling. "But it is time for your meeting with Master Yatta, Master Zelkova."

"Oh, boo," Zelkova sulked. "Sorry Cubia. I guess I have to go."

"Aw," Cubia whined. "And everyone is busy… I guess I'll hang out in Canard's HOME."

"Don't worry, we'll walk you there!" Zelkova chirped. Cubia nodded, accepting that as consolation.

"I must say, you two really get along very well for meeting only a few days ago," Kaede said to the two child-like players.

"Didn't I tell you?" Zelkova asked, tilting his head. "He's my little brother! : )"

* * *

"Dad, who is this?" the teen asked Junichiro Tokuoka.

"Ah, this is an old friend," Tokuoka said. "She was one of the ones who helped me when you were in that coma."

"Oh," she said. "Thanks for watching over him. I'm Nimura Junka."

"I didn't know you had a daughter," Mai mused.

"Er, well we were only able to meet up recently," Tokuoka said. "Junka, why don't you go ahead and see your friend? I want to catch up with Mai."

"Fine with me," Junka said. "Nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too," Mai said in turn. They watched her walk away and waited until she was out of earshot. Mai turned to her old friend and asked, "Is she the reason you were trying to take down CC Corp?"

"Excuse me?" Reiko asked.

"Um, I think we should sit down and talk about this," Mai said.

Meanwhile, Junka had reached her friend's room. They weren't exactly friends, more like co-workers as they both worked at the same convenience store and usually the same time. She sighed, psyching herself up. When she called up his house to find out why he wasn't there, his neighbor explained his condition. She got a feeling that it was her fault since she was the one who got him interested in The World. It wasn't confirmed that the game was the cause, but she knew he was playing. Ryou was the type to play anyways.

* * *

Iori drank his hot coco in silence as the adults talked. He didn't know what they were talking about since he was thinking about Ryou. His brother was strong, so how could he fall so easily? He missed his other brother, Ryou's second personality, too. Sakura really hated him and would constantly yell at him while the other Ryou would just laugh it off and egg her on.

"I miss Ryou and Sora," Iori sighed. Suddenly, the adults' conversations went quite.

"Honey, who's Sora?" Yumi asked.

"The other Ryou," Iori said, making Tsuki gasp.

"I forgot Ryou's other personality was named that," Tsuki mused. "I believe that was his username for playing games. Strange he would choose that name." It took a few minutes before An stood up quickly.

"What?" An yelled.

* * *

TBC

**Random talk:** So, does anyone also need to have a guide to know who is who for this fic besides me? Actually, for the longest time, I needed a guide for reading .hack fics since some of them are like mine where they go back and forth between game and real life. I still need my cheat sheet since last names come up sometimes, and I forget those.

So, you might have noticed I've been on a roll with these chapters. Well, it might take a few days for the next chapter since I'll be busy this weekend. Besides, I need to figure out what part I should do next. This weekend would be the perfect chance to do it. So look to next week for the next chapter!

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	9. Login 8: AI

**Random talk:** I hate it when no one tells me I'm misspelling stuff, especially names. I feel guilty. So I've been spelling Yata's name with two t's instead of one. Oops…

* * *

The Forgotten One

Login 8: AI

Junka Nimura life was fairly normal. She had a part time job at a convenience store. Her parents were divorced as long as she could remember. She lived with her mother, who was rarely home, and her grandmother. They didn't talk much about her father, referring to him only as Mr. T. In fact, it was only this past year that she even met him for the first time. Her mother was upset about it, but couldn't argue since Junka was 18 and had a right to meet him.

It turns out her father, Junichiro Tokuoka, had looked into the reason for her coma. At that moment, she knew her father wasn't such a bad guy if he cared for her to do such a thing. He explained what caused the problem for several other people in similar situations. In turn, she told him about Aura and Sora.

Sora. The mysterious player she had befriended. She remembered how she hated Aura for awhile for causing her friend pain. She remembered how she wouldn't listen to others when she asked about Sora. She remembered Sora forgetting about her and tried to PK her. What she remembered the most was how Sora changed into that monster and sent her and Alph, she later found out, into a coma. She thought for the longest time Sora was actually an AI like Aura.

It was only after she was working she thought of Sora again. She was there for Ryou Misaki's first shift ever. She introduced herself before things went to hell. Ryou clutched his head in pain, muttering "I'm sorry" before passing out. It was like what happened to Sora when he saw Aura. She didn't think much of it after Ryou explained his condition, but it did make her wonder.

Was Sora really a player or an AI?

* * *

Reiko sat in front of her computer thinking about what happened earlier. First she unknowingly met a fellow Epitaph User, Enderance, and was there for him to fall to the same fate as the player Haseo. She also met the player behind Sakubo, only to find it was just one person and not two. What she didn't expect was to meet another coma victim from 7 years ago, let alone two, that her brother had mentioned in his diary. Ryou's neighbor was Tsukasa and the man she met, Tokuoka, his daughter evidently was Carl. It was strange how everything was connected.

She looked back to the conversation she had with Tokuoka and Mai. They revealed that they were there helping out the .hackers in their final fight along with two other people. Tokuoka told them all about what Junka told him about the player Sora and the monster he later changed into. Mai then remembered about the player turning into a monster, causing Tomonari's coma. She also said that she thought that Ryou was connected to the monster judging by his reaction to both her and Tomonari when they first met. Tokuoka confirmed Ryou acted the same way to Junka when they first met.

"What if…" Reiko muttered. "I mean, it all fits. Ryou's coma seven years ago, they way he reacts to people data drained by Skeith, why Skeith even chose him in the first place…"

It was true; Skeith was always the picky one. Whenever someone tried to control it in the past, it would simply "runaway". It would take days to find it in the system, like it was playing a game with them, something an average 10 year old, which Ryou was 7 years ago, would do. When Haseo was created, Skeith disappeared without warning.

Reiko sighed as she logged on. This was something she had to talk to Master Yatta about. Besides, she was late for the meeting thanks to listening to Tokuoka. She appeared in Net Slum Tartarga only to see a curious sight. Silabus, Gaspard and Atoli were talking at Shop Acorn with another player. Atoli looked worried about something while the mystery player looked ready to bolt. Curious, she walked up to the group to figure out what was going on.

"Um, are you sure he's okay?" Atoli asked. "His name…"

"Cubia is nice," Silabus said smiling. "He's just shy."

"I know it's strange he named himself after that monster," Gaspard said, "but he has nothing to do with it!"

"You can never be too safe," Pi said when she reached the group. She then turned to the player called Cubia, making the child flinch. "Why did you even choose that name? It's highly unusual."

"I-I don't know," Cubia muttered. "I don't even remember much before I met Zelkova-nii." Everyone was shocked to hear this. Pi was the first one to snap out of it.

"You, come with me," Pi said, pointing to Cubia. "We're going to see Master Yata."

The pigtailed Tribal Grappler walked away towards the Serpent of Lore. Cubia was confused why everyone was shocked, but followed Pi anyways. Atoli, Silabus, and Gaspard stayed behind, confused. When Pi reached the Serpent of Lore, Zelkova and Yata were already typing away.

"You're usually late, Pi," Yata said when he noticed his underling.

"Sorry, I got held up at the hospital," Pi sighed. "I'll tell you about it later. Right now, did you know about him?" She pointed to Cubia who was looking around for some place to hide.

"Cubia!" Zelkova cheered.

"Zelkova-nii!" Cubia said before running up to the Flick Reaper and hiding behind him.

"Aw, did Pi scare you?" Zelkova asked.

"No, but the old lady was mean," Cubia said.

"What did you say, brat?" Pi yelled. That gave Cubia the courage to speak up.

"You heard me, old lady!" Cubia yelled, sticking his tongue at the other. A vein appeared on Pi's head, signaling she was angry.

"Enough you two!" Yata yelled. "Now what is the problem?"

"I found this brat talking to Atoli and two of Haseo's friends," Pi said. "They were talking about his name. I asked him how he got it and he said he couldn't remember much before meeting Zelkova. I thought he might be another Lost One, only a special case." Yata typed on the screen, running a search on any players named Cubia.

"How strange," Yata said. "He's not in the database of players."

"Then my theory is correct," Pi said, turning her head to the Twin Blade. "You're an AI."

* * *

Elk warped to the fiery landscape of Sif Berg, just like Mother told him to. She still couldn't find the one that would wake up the sleeping boy yet, but she mentioned his brother would be coming there. It was strange since Elk didn't remember having a brother. Either way, Mother said he would help find the one they were looking for.

All he could do was wait for his so called brother.

* * *

It was late when Tsuki got back home. Her husband had to get some paperwork from the office and told her that he would be home shortly. They had eaten before they went their separate ways, so she didn't have to cook. There was no manuscript that she had to go over, meaning no work. This was perfect chance to do what she had to.

She turned on the computer before leaving for the near-by closet. Inside, there was a box stood out with all the dust on it. It hasn't been touched in 3 years since she had put it there. Hiroshi always frowned upon her "hobby", as he put it, and was glad when she put it away. It was for the best, for Ryou's sake since the boy was becoming more curious about what his mother was doing on the computer. Tsuki pulled out the box and opened it. Inside was an old HMD.

It was a good thing she was head editor, for she could push projects onto other people. This project was going to take more than a night to finish even with the help of _him_. Hiroshi would be furious, but it was the only way she could think of to bring back her son. Besides, it seems she had some unfinished business.

* * *

The next morning, Akira Hayami was puzzled by the mysterious email she had receive. It had to be a very bad joke, some scam or virus, or the real deal. But why after all these years would _she_ of all people contact her? Especially with the subject title that was that specific.

**To: **Akira Hayami

**Subject:** BlackRose

**Message:** Greetings. I know it has been awhile since we have talked, but this is urgent. In three days, please go to the place specified on the map attached by 17:00. The real world and The World is in danger once more.

Helba

* * *

TBC

**Random talk:** I know what I said…. But a review gave me the idea and I went with it. For sure I will not be updating until next week. I'm going to a convention this weekend. Even then, I'll be busy next week. Just plan on Monday at the earliest for the next chapter. I also realize this chapter was fairly short. I was going to make Elk's scene longer, but then I realized it was too soon. I realized that the past few chapters has been one long day. I wanted a day to pass before I do what I wanted to do here.

Remember, part of this fic is about connections people have in the game _and_ out.

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


	10. Login 9: Legends

**Random talk:** Three things. One, the other yaoi pairing appears, but it's very minor compared to EnderancexHaseo. I mean, very minor. It will be brought up like twice. Second, there is gender-bending, kinda. I say kinda because it was actually a misprint in AI Busters, and I'm using it to my advantage. Third, I'm actually mixing the anime and manga versions of Legend of the Twilight, but only a little. I'll follow the manga mostly since it's not only cannon, but I don't feel like going through every single episode. Plus I only have the first DVD while I have all three manga.

* * *

The Forgotten One

Login 9: Legends

Back in R:1, Tomonari Kasumi saw the Descendants of Fianna as both his idols and rivals. They were the reason he chose the name Sieg. It was short for Siegfried, the wielder of the sword Balmung in _Ring of Nibelung_. He remembered saying that he wouldn't lose to them at the final battle with Corbenik. Yet he could never compete with them.

That was the problem with legends. Everyone wanted to be like them, yet they fail. Few succeed to become legends; they don't mean to become one. Kite played on request of his friend, Orca. He ended up saving several people in comas and The World itself. Shugo and Rena just wanted to play so they could be together. They ended up helping Aura and her daughter, Zefie. Haseo played because he heard that it was fun. He became one of the most feared PKK and later saved The World as well.

Two legends in particular were that of Aura and the Key of the Twilight. Very few knew where Aura came from. Few even believed she even existed, only believing she was only part of The World's back story. The Key of the Twilight was different. Everyone knew about the supposed item, and a few would actually go after it.

The thing about legends is, no matter how much it gets exaggerated, there is always some part of truth that remains.

* * *

When Kaito got the email three days ago, the memories of 7 years ago flooded him that night in his dreams. He was 14 again, and it was his first day of playing The World. He watched his friend, Yasuhiko, get data drained by the monster. He met BlackRose, Mia, Elk, Mistral, Balmung, all his new online friends. He went up against the 8 phases and Cubia. He didn't know if this was a nightmare or a sign.

What could Helba want with them? He had gotten emails from a few of the other .hackers asking the same thing. He knew that The World had its problems, he seen the news. Yet, it seems like someone had it under control seeing as things have gone back to normal. But what could be so bad that she needed them?

He reached the park only to see some familiar faces. Yasuhiko was catching up with Akio with another man next to the motorcyclist. Akira and Fumikazu were talking with two teens, a male and female, along with a woman and her daughter. There was a man, Saki Shibayama if his memory served him correctly, talking with two women and another man. There were a lot more people he didn't recognize. He doubted that all of them were .hackers since there were too many there.

"Kaito! Over here!" Yasuhiko yelled, waving over his friend. Hikaru smiled and ran over to his friends.

"Hey, Yasuhiko, Akio," Kaito said to his friends. "Who's this?"

"I'm Fujio Satoshi," the man said.

"Akio's boyfriend," Yasuhiko whispered to Kaito, whose mouth made an "o" shape in understanding.

"Hey!" the two men yelled, blushing. They had obviously overheard the young adult.

"Alright everyone," a man said, standing on a nearby fence, "if I could have everyone's attention!"

"Ichiro?" a woman and man said.

"It's nice to see you two," Ichiro said smiling. "Back to the matter at hand. It is imperative that we move quickly to our home base. There, everything will be explained. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but we couldn't take chances on revealing our location. If you need a ride, we have several prepared. For those with rides, please come up to get a map. Do not use your cell phones or GPS. It will be explained later."

* * *

For the past three days, he hadn't gone online to play The World. Instead, he caught up with his ex-girlfriend, Mai. It was great seeing her again, telling her about his true feelings. He told her about GU and AIDA, even though he probably shouldn't have. He just had to tell her everything he went through. He spent so much time with her that he took some time off from his part time jobs.

Yet he knew that his vacation from reality was over. Something told him to log onto The World, and he did. He had a few emails from Silabus, Gapard, and a few girls. There was also a message from Pi saying that he had to investigate Sif Berg. A strange player had appeared there that was based off an R:1 Wavemaster. Kuhn figured that the Wavemaster might have a hint to what was going on.

When he got there, he saw the Wavemaster sleeping. The boy looked familiar with his purple outfit and pale blue hair. Even though he was curled up on the ground, he still stuck out like a sore thumb. It was surprising there was nothing on the boards about the boy. Maybe Kuhn had over looked them or something. Even though Sif Berg wasn't one of the more popular locations, it still was frequented enough that someone should have noticed him.

"Hey, kid," Kuhn said, kneeling in front of the mysterious player. "Wake up kid!"

"Hn," the Wavemaster moaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "Oh! Are you the one Mother told me about? Are you my brother?"

"What are you talking about?" Kuhn asked. "I don't have a brother."

"But… Mother said you would come," the boy said as he stood up. "You're the only one who came, so you have to be my brother."

This confused the blue haired Steam Gunner. He knew that a few people liked to visit the Sugar Mansion, so he had to have been seen. Unless…

"Shit!" Kuhn yelled. "I have to get out of here." He tried to make a dash for the platform, but the Wavemaster somehow grabbed his arm preventing his character to go.

"You can't go!" the Wavemaster yelled. "Mother said you would help wake him up! I need to wake him up!"

"Who are you talking about?" Kuhn asked, having a feeling he knew the answer.

"The boy in white!" the other responded. "He won't wake up until I find someone. Mother said you can help me wake him! You have to help!" Kuhn watched as the Wavemaster started to glow purple. That could mean only one thing.

"Wait, you're," Kuhn started to say but lost his train of thought when he saw the Avatar appear. Right before him was Macha in all her glory.

Kuhn realized then that he fell into a trap.

* * *

From the outside, the warehouse looked abandoned. Inside was a different story. Several people were either running around setting things up or typing away on computers. The large group of strangers stood in smaller groups trying to figure out what was going on.

"Alright, I think everyone made it!" Ichiro said to the group, getting their attention. "Sorry about all this. We couldn't take any chances of _her_ finding out about this. Somehow she managed to integrate with the system, as I'm sure a few of you figured out. Hey, Lilith! Do you have a secure connection with America yet?"

"Just got it!" a female's voice came from behind a computer screen. "Fili, you there?"

"We're here," a male voice came from some speakers. An image of a male appeared on a TV screen. Another male and female stood behind him.

"Great!" Ichiro said. "Vesper, open the connection with Helba." That got everyone's attention. Practically everyone in that room knew who Helba was.

"Shut up everyone!" a male's voice came from another screen. "I just got the connection up, Bith!"

"Thanks!" Ichiro said. "Helba, are you there?"

"Yes, Bith," a female voice came from the speakers. "I'm glad you all could make it. A few of you know of part of the current situation. For those who don't know, two people have fallen into a coma due to The World."

"What's different from what was going on a few weeks ago?" Akira asked. "It was all over the news."

"That was caused by an AI called AIDA," Helba said. "This time it is caused by a common foe, the AI called Morganna." This caused the whispers to return. Few of them recognized the name from their time playing The World.

"How is it possible?" Kaito asked. "I thought we destroyed her."

"CC Corp brought back the Phases in an attempt to bring back Aura," Ichiro answered. "The Phases contain a part of Morganna. It laid dormant until a certain player joined R:2. Morganna attached to his psyche somehow."

"How is that possible?" a woman with long hair asked.

"I think Saeki-san can explain this," a woman said as she walked in. She was followed by another woman.

"Reiko!" three voices rang out from the group.

"I was worried you wouldn't make it, Saya," Ichiro said.

"Sorry we're late," the woman said. "Traffic. Saeki-san, would you explain about the Epitaphs?"

"Right," Reiko said. "A few years ago, CC Corp started Project GU to bring back Aura using the eight phases. The plan was for eight players to control them and use their power to bring her back. The short version is that it failed.

"The phases, called Epitaphs, can only be used by particular people. Recently, two of them fell into a coma. After we analyzed some data, we discovered that the same data as found in the Epitaphs has been slowly spreading across The World. That could only mean the program Morganna Mode Gone was activated. What its intent is, we are unsure of."

A cell phone interrupted Reiko's speech, turning out to be said woman's cell phone.

"You might want to take that," Helba said, her voice sounding grave.

"Right," Reiko said. She walked off to a corner as she answered the phone.

"As for the rest of you," Helba continued. "We are working on bringing back some of your old characters. We still need a few days since CC Corp just agreed to work with us. We need a few of you to work within CC Corp to make sure things go smoothly. Bith will fill you in on your roles. Now if you will excuse me, I have some work to do."

"Thanks Helba!" Ichiro said. A woman ran up to the man and handed him a sheet of paper. "Alright, there will be three teams: one at CC Corp, one will work as a go between here, and one will be in The World."

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Reiko interrupted. "Mai, you better come with me. Our two might have just become three."

* * *

TBC

**Random talk:** Okay, this was a bitch to write. Right in the middle of the chapter, I ran out of inspiration! Just as a heads up, I have no clue when I'm going to update next. I have to sort out what I'm going to do again.

Okay, now to reveal my thought process behind the things in the warning. For the first one, I was rereading Legend of the Twilight. The idea of Balmung and Reki being together popped in my head and I thought it was cute. It just wouldn't leave me alone!

The second warning steamed off the first one. I get some of my information from the .hack wiki. On Balmung's page, it says he doesn't understand women, while on Kamui's page it says that they dated. It also state's on Kamui's page that in AI Busters her gender was mistranslated to male. Also in the original draft of Legend of the Twilight she was supposed to be male. So, all of this plus the pairing I just discovered, Saki became male in the real world.

As for the third, I had already started the starting section when I remembered that Rena and Shugo's parents weren't divorced in the manga. That and the tidbit about Kamui and Balmung dating was only mentioned in the anime. I just didn't want to confuse anyone who just read/watched one and not the other.

Now for an interesting fact: I was going to have Kite's name to be Hikaru since that's what I named him in my game. Then I looked on the .hack wiki on Kite's page and they had some names that were planned for Kite. Kaito was one of them. I thought it would be cute if Kite's character name was based off his real name.

Until next time!

Rubi-chan, over and out!


End file.
